For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism? | Aziz Abu Sarah

Translator: Nana Ginnerup Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

I'm a tourism entrepreneur and a peacebuilder,

Jeg er en turisme-entreprenør og en fredsskaber

but this is not how I started.

men det her er hvordan, jeg startede.

When I was seven years old, I remember watching television

Jeg kan huske, at jeg så tv, da jeg var 7 år gammel,

and seeing people throwing rocks,

og så folk kaste med sten,

and thinking, this must be a fun thing to do.

hvortil jeg tænkte, at det måtte være sjovt at gøre.

So I got out to the street and threw rocks,

Så jeg gik ud på gaderne og kastede med sten,

not realizing I was supposed to throw rocks at Israeli cars.

uden at indse, at det var meningen, at jeg skulle kaste efter israelernes biler.

Instead, I ended up stoning my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)

I stedet endte jeg med at stene mine naboers biler.

They were not enthusiastic about my patriotism.

De var ikke entusiastiske over min fædrelandskærlighed.

This is my picture with my brother.

Det her er mit billede af mig og min bror.

This is me, the little one, and I know what you're thinking:

Jeg er den lille, og jeg ved, hvad I tænker:

"You used to look cute, what the heck happened to you?"

"Du plejede at se så sød ud, hvad fanden skete der med dig?"

But my brother, who is older than me,

Men min bror, der er ældre end mig,

was arrested when he was 18,

blev arresteret, da han var 18,

og blev taget til fængslet for at kaste med sten.

taken to prison on charges of throwing stones.

He was beaten up when he refused to confess that he threw stones,

Han blev banket, da han nægtede at tilstå, at han havde kastet med sten.

and as a result, had internal injuries

Som følge fik han indre kvæstelser,

that caused his death soon after he was released from prison.

der resulterede i hans død, kort efter han var sat fri fra fængsel.

I was angry, I was bitter,

Jeg var rasende, jeg var bitter,

and all I wanted was revenge.

og alt, jeg længtes efter, var hævn.

But that changed when I was 18.

Men det ændrede sig, da jeg var 18.

I decided that I needed Hebrew to get a job,

Jeg besluttede mig for, at jeg havde brug for hebraisk for at få et job,

and going to study Hebrew in that classroom

og at studere hebraisk i det klasselokale,

was the first time I ever met Jews who were not soldiers.

var den første gang, jeg mødte jøder, der ikke var soldater.

And we connected over really small things, like the fact that I love country music,

Og vi forbandt os over virkelig små ting som det, at jeg elsker country-musik,

which is really strange for Palestinians.

hvilket er virkeligt sært for palæstinensere.

But it was then that I realized also that we have a wall of anger,

Men det var også der, jeg indså, at vi har en mur af vrede,

of hatred and of ignorance that separates us.

af had og af uvidenhed, der skiller os ad.

I decided that it doesn't matter what happens to me.

Jeg besluttede, at det er ligegyldigt, hvad jeg kommer ud for.

What really matters is how I deal with it.

Hvad, der tæller, er hvordan jeg håndterer det.

And therefore, I decided to dedicate my life

Og derfor besluttede jeg at dedikere mit liv

to bringing down the walls that separate people.

til at rive murene, der skiller folk ad, ned.

I do so through many ways.

Jeg gør det på mange måder.

Tourism is one of them, but also media and education,

Turisme er en af dem, men det er medier og uddannelse også.

and you might be wondering, really, can tourism change things?

Du undrer dig nok over, om turisme virkelig kan ændre tingene.

Can it bring down walls? Yes.

Kan det rive mure ned? Ja.

Tourism is the best sustainable way to bring down those walls

Turisme er den mest holdbare måde at nedbringe disse mure

and to create a sustainable way of connecting with each other

og skabe en holdbar måde at forbinde os til hinanden

and creating friendships.

og skabe venskaber.

I 2009 blev jeg medstifter af Mejdi Tours,

In 2009, I cofounded Mejdi Tours,

a social enterprise that aims to connect people,

en social virksomhed, der har til formål at forbinde folk,

with two Jewish friends, by the way,

i øvrigt med to jødiske venner,

and what we'll do, the model we did,

og det, vi gjorde, var

for example, in Jerusalem, we would have two tour guides,

eksempelvis i Jerusalem havde vi to rejseledere,

one Israeli and one Palestinian, guiding the trips together,

en israelsk og en palæstinensisk, der guidede ture sammen, hvor de

telling history and narrative and archaeology and conflict

forklarede historie, arkæologi og konflikt

from totally different perspectives.

fra helt forskellige perspektiver.

I remember running a trip together with a friend named Kobi --

Jeg kan huske en tur med en ven kaldet Kobi -

Jewish congregation from Chicago, the trip was in Jerusalem --

jødisk menighed fra Chicago, turen var i Jerusalem -

and we took them to a refugee camp, a Palestinian refugee camp,

og vi tog dem med til en palæstinensisk flygtningelejr,

and there we had this amazing food.

hvor vi fik fantastisk mad.

By the way, this is my mother. She's cool.

I øvrigt er dette min mor. Hun er cool.

And that's the Palestinian food called maqluba.

Og det er palæstinensisk mad kaldet maqluba.

It means "upside-down."

Det betyder "på hovedet".

You cook it with rice and chicken, and you flip it upside-down.

Man koger det med ris og kylling og vender det så på hovedet.

It's the best meal ever.

Det er det klart bedste måltid.

And we'll eat together.

Og vi spiste sammen.

Then we had a joint band, Israeli and Palestinian musicians,

Så havde vi et band, israelske og palæstinensiske musikere,

and we did some belly-dancing.

og vi dansede mavedans.

If you don't know any, I'll teach you later.

Kender I ikke til det, så vil jeg lære jer det senere.

But when we left, both sides,

Men da vi gik, begyndte begge sider at græde,

they were crying because they did not want to leave.

fordi de ikke havde lyst til at gå.

Three years later, those relationships still exist.

Tre år senere eksisterer de forhold stadig.

Imagine with me if the one billion people

Forestil jer, hvis en milliard mennesker,

who travel internationally every year travel like this,

der rejser internationalt, hvert år ville rejse ligesom vi gjorde,

not being taken in the bus from one side to another,

hvor man ikke tager bussen fra den ene side til den anden,

from one hotel to another,

fra et hotel til det næste,

taking pictures from the windows of their buses of people and cultures,

og tager billeder fra bussen af menneskerne og kulturerne,

but actually connecting with people.

men rent faktisk skaber en forbindelse med folk.

You know, I remember having a Muslim group from the U.K.

Jeg husker at have en muslimsk gruppe fra Storbritannien,

going to the house of an Orthodox Jewish family,

hvor vi tog til en ortodoks jødisk families hus,

and having their first Friday night dinners, that Sabbath dinner,

hvor vi havde deres første sabbatmåltid,

and eating together hamin, which is a Jewish food, a stew,

hvor vi spiste hamin, der er en jødisk gryderet,

just having the connection of realizing, after a while,

og følte forbindelsen af efter lidt tid at indse,

that a hundred years ago, their families came out

at for nogle hundrede år siden kom deres familier

of the same place in Northern Africa.

fra det samme sted i det nordlige Afrika.

This is not a photo profile for your Facebook.

Det er ikke et profilbillede til din facebookprofil.

This is not disaster tourism.

Det er ikke katastrofeturisme.

This is the future of travel,

Det er fremtiden for rejser,

og jeg inviterer jer til at ændre måden, I rejser på, med mig.

and I invite you to join me to do that, to change your travel.

We're doing it all over the world now,

Vi gør det over hele kloden lige nu,

from Ireland to Iran to Turkey,

fra Irland til Iran til Tyrkiet,

and we see ourselves going everywhere to change the world.

og vi kan se os selv rejse til alle mulige steder for at ændre verden.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)